Green Climate Fund Authorization Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2997 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2997

   To authorize appropriations for climate financing, and for other
                               purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 24, 2025

Mr. Espaillat introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To authorize appropriations for climate financing, and for other
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Green Climate Fund Authorization Act
of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) climate change most severely impacts vulnerable and
        disadvantaged communities in the United States and around the
        world;
            (2) it is the responsibility of the United States
        Government to work with its global partners to promote
        environmental justice and climate justice;
            (3) the 2023 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
        Climate Change, entitled ``AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change
        2023'', found that current global financial flows for climate
        adaptation are insufficient for, and constrain implementation
        of, climate adaptation options, especially in developing
        countries;
            (4) the report of the United Nations Environment Programme
        entitled ``Climate Change and the Cost of Capital in Developing
        Countries'', dated May 2018, found that, in the 10 years prior
        to the publication of the report, climate vulnerability had
        cost the 20 nations most affected by catastrophes rooted in
        climate change an additional $62,000,000,000 in interest
        payments alone;
            (5) individuals and families, particularly communities of
        color, indigenous communities, and low-income communities, that
        are on the frontlines of climate change across the globe are
        often in close proximity to environmental stressors or sources
        of pollution;
            (6) the communities described in paragraph (5)--
                    (A) are often the first exposed to the causes and
                impacts of climate change; and
                    (B) have the fewest resources with which to
                mitigate those impacts or to relocate;
            (7) all efforts to adapt to and mitigate climate change
        must include specific protections for and acknowledgment of the
        harm of climate change to communities of color, indigenous
        peoples, women, and other frontline communities and
        marginalized peoples around the world;
            (8) in Paris, on December 12, 2015, the parties to the
        United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted
        the Paris Agreement, a benchmark agreement--
                    (A) to combat climate change; and
                    (B) to accelerate and intensify the actions and
                investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future;
            (9) the Paris Agreement, to which the United States is a
        party, acknowledges, ``Parties should, when taking action to
        address climate change, respect, promote and consider their
        respective obligations on human rights, the right to health,
        the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants,
        children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable
        situations and the right to development, as well as gender
        equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity'';
            (10) the Paris Agreement--
                    (A) notes the importance of ``climate justice''
                when mitigating and adapting to climate change; and
                    (B) recognizes ``the need for an effective and
                progressive response to the urgent threat of climate
                change'';
            (11) it is imperative for all countries to undertake
        mitigation activities to rapidly meet the goal of limiting
        global warming to not more than 1.5 degrees Celsius;
            (12) developed countries have the greatest capacity to
        mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, while--
                    (A) developing countries have the least capacity to
                engage in mitigation activities; and
                    (B) the capacity of developing countries to engage
                in mitigation activities is less than the national
                mitigation potential of those developing countries;
            (13) the determination for the fair share of mitigation and
        adaptation activities for each country must take into account--
                    (A) the historic greenhouse gas emissions of each
                country; and
                    (B) the current capacity of each country to both
                mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate
                impacts;
            (14) developed countries that have historically emitted a
        disproportionately high share of greenhouse gas emissions, and
        reaped the economic benefits of those polluting activities,
        have a corresponding and disproportionately greater
        responsibility to engage in global mitigation and adaptation
        activities than less industrialized countries that have
        historically polluted far less;
            (15) the only realistic way for less industrialized
        countries to meet their full mitigation potential is through
        international climate financing by more developed countries;
            (16) in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, developed countries
        committed to jointly mobilize, starting in 2020,
        $100,000,000,000 per year in public climate financing (as well
        as private investments and other alternative forms of finance)
        for developing countries, a commitment reaffirmed in 2015 in
        Decision 1/CP.21 of the United Nations Framework Convention on
        Climate Change, Adoption of the Paris Agreement;
            (17) the $100,000,000, commitment described in paragraph
        (16) was a political compromise that falls short of the actual
        financing needs for climate action in developing countries;
            (18) Bloomberg New Energy Finance has estimated that the
        transition to renewable energy sources in developing countries
        will require hundreds of billions of dollars annually;
            (19) the United Nations Environment Programme has estimated
        that adaptation needs relating to climate change in developing
        countries may be as much as $300,000,000,000 annually by 2030;
            (20) the Green Climate Fund was created in 2010 by 194
        countries to serve as a crucial financing mechanism to help
        developing countries limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions
        and adapt to climate change;
            (21) in 2015, the United Nations Framework Convention on
        Climate Change agreed that the Green Climate Fund should serve
        the goals of the Paris Agreement, which states that ``developed
        country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist
        developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and
        adaptation in continuation of their existing obligations under
        the Convention'';
            (22) the Green Climate Fund is an essential institution for
        climate financing, as the Green Climate Fund ensures--
                    (A) balanced governance between developed and
                developing countries;
                    (B) stakeholder engagement and discourse;
                    (C) a balanced approach between mitigation and
                adaptation;
                    (D) fair and equal labor and working conditions;
                    (E) conservation of biodiversity and critical
                habitats; and
                    (F) strong environmental, social, and gender
                protections;
            (23) the Green Climate Fund--
                    (A) promotes and protects human rights and the
                rights of marginalized groups, including indigenous
                peoples, women, children, and people with disabilities;
                and
                    (B) continues to take steps to strengthen
                protections for marginalized groups;
            (24) in 2014, the United States announced its intention to
        contribute $3,000,000,000 of the first $10,000,000,000 raised
        for the initial resource mobilization period of the Green
        Climate Fund, but ultimately failed to honor this commitment;
            (25) as of June 2023, the United States has contributed
        only $2,000,000,000 in total funding to the Green Climate Fund;
            (26) pledges for the first replenishment period of the
        Green Climate Fund (``GCF-1'') totaled $9,870,000,000, without
        any participation from the United States;
            (27) almost all major contributors doubled the amount of
        their contribution from the initial resource mobilization phase
        for the GCF-1 replenishment; and
            (28) the Green Climate Fund is the world's largest and most
        innovative multilateral climate adaptation fund, and is a fully
        operational and proven institution supporting nearly 200
        projects in 127 developing countries.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States to provide climate
financing--
            (1) as an essential part of the global effort to combat
        climate change; and
            (2) that--
                    (A) upholds the principles of environmental justice
                and climate justice;
                    (B) supports programs and projects developed by
                recipient countries and communities;
                    (C) is designed and implemented with the free,
                prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples and
                other impacted communities;
                    (D) promotes gender equality as essential in all of
                the projects and programs supported by climate
                financing;
                    (E) includes best practices for environmental and
                social safeguards to ensure that projects and programs
                supported by climate financing respect fundamental
                human rights; and
                    (F) addresses both mitigation and adaptation as
                essential aspects of responding to climate change.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated for
contributions to the Green Climate Fund $4,000,000,000 for each of the
fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the
climate financing needs to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions
reductions required to keep the planet at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius
of global warming are significantly greater than the amount of funds
authorized to be appropriated under subsection (a).

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Climate financing.--The term ``climate financing''
        means the transfer of new and additional public funds from
        developed countries to developing countries for projects and
        programs that--
                    (A) reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions;
                    (B) enhance and restore natural carbon
                sequestration; and
                    (C) promote adaptation to climate change.
            (2) Green climate fund.--The term ``Green Climate Fund''
        means the independent, multilateral fund--
                    (A) established by parties to the United Nations
                Framework Convention on Climate Change; and
                    (B) adopted by decision as part of the financial
                mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on
                Climate Change.
            (3) Paris agreement.--The term ``Paris Agreement'' means
        the annex to Decision 1/CP.21 adopted by the 21st Conference of
        Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
        Change in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015.
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